Longaberger's new owner draws fire

Sunday

Jan 19, 2014 at 12:01 AMJan 19, 2014 at 4:22 PM

Thomas Hwang's purchase of the Longaberger Golf Club - as well as his intention to upgrade it - surprised some of his neighbors in Waverly, Ohio, because he hasn't done much at his property in their town, drawing five nuisance complaints.

Tim Feran, The Columbus Dispatch

Thomas Hwang’s purchase of the Longaberger Golf Club — as well as his intention to upgrade it — surprised some of his neighbors in Waverly, Ohio, because he hasn’t done much at his property in their town, drawing five nuisance complaints.

A few weeks ago, Hwang’s company, Four Virtues Inc., of Waverly, bought the 530-acre Longaberger property in Nashport from Dallas-based CVSL Inc., parent company of Longaberger Co., for $3.1 million.

The course is “a beautiful place,” Hwang said, but he intends to make some changes soon.

“I guess I’m a little sorry that certain aspects have been neglected,” he said. “I hope to fix that. It was built 15 years ago, and everything’s still original. Not that it’s falling apart. The air conditioners are cranky and a little unreliable; some of the mowers to maintain the property are getting cranky.”

Longaberger Golf Club, designed by Arthur Hills, has been rated the No. 1 public play course in Ohio for 13 years by GolfWeek magazine. After opening in 1999, it was ranked the top new course in the U.S. by Golf Digest. Hwang, who also owns rental property in Waverly as well as central Ohio, pointed out a need to fix some “minor cosmetics with the walkway, some winter salt damage, I think."

“It’s still a beautiful facility,” said Hwang, who plans to keep Longaberger as a public course. “It’s just that, at 15 years, certain things need updating. If it were 5 years old, it would be different, even 10. At 15, it’s still working, but there are needs to be addressed.”

That’s the same thing Hwang’s neighbors are saying in Waverly.

Five nuisance complaints were filed in November against Hwang’s property in Waverly, listing problems such as decaying or damaged fences, the presence of junk vehicles for extended periods and accumulated garbage.

Of particular concern was a large trash bin permanently stationed at the end of Hwang’s driveway and near the entrance to Bristol Village retirement community.

“The resident usually fills the Dumpster, and many times it is overflowing with trash,” said Patricia Nichols, executive director of Bristol Village, in a letter to the Waverly City Council. She also said the poor appearance of Hwang’s property has been “a detriment to our marketing efforts.”

A resident of Bristol Village who wished to remain anonymous voiced surprise that the owner of a “very poorly maintained property adjacent to the community” had bought the Longaberger Golf Club.

“There are three vehicles parked in his driveway, and they have not moved in 10 years,” the resident said. “In the backyard is an old John Deere tractor, and that has not been moved in 10 years. It’s kind of a comedy of errors.”

Hwang said the complaints are “about a Dumpster and some trash. Almost everything’s been rectified — maybe not to their satisfaction. It’s pretty minimal.”

The trash container at the end of his driveway tends to overflow whenever he has to evict renters from one of his properties and clears out the “mountains of trash” that the renters have accumulated, he said.

“I haven’t evicted people in a couple of months, so the Dumpster hasn’t overflowed in a couple of months,” he said.

The house, Hwang admitted, “could look better. They want something more sightly. They’re helping everyone’s property values, so I can’t complain too much. For $3,000 or $4,000, I can put up a privacy fence.

“It’s just a Dumpster at the end of the driveway. It doesn’t affect the golf course.”

In an earlier conversation, Hwang had joked about a part of the golf-course deal that included continued use of the Longaberger Golf Club name, “if I want to use it.”

“I think they’re a little worried I’m going to open it up as a Longaberger chicken farm,” he said, laughing. “I think that will be open for discussion after a year. I’ll have to think about a new name.”

tferan@dispatch.com

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